The beige catshark (''Dichichthys bigus''), or beige bristle shark, is a bristle shark of the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Dichichthyidae ''Dichichthys'' is a genus of sharks which is the only genus in the monotypic family Dichichthyidae, the bristle sharks. These sharks are found in the Western Pacific Ocean. Until recently, scientists believed these 5 species were part of the gen ...

, The first recorded specimen was a female recorded off the coast of

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia around

Lord Howe Island Lord Howe Island (; formerly Lord Howe's Island) is an irregularly crescent-shaped volcanic remnant in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand, part of the Australian state of New South Wales. It lies directly east of mainland Port ...

. Its length was 72 cm. Recently, a number of both male and female specimens (unpublished data) were captured in the waters off

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, at the edge of the EEZ (

exclusive economic zone An exclusive economic zone (EEZ), as prescribed by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is an area of the sea in which a sovereign state has exclusive rights regarding the exploration and use of marine natural resource, reso ...

). In 2024, the first footage of this shark was captured by the ROV ''SuBastian'' during

Coral Sea The Coral Sea () is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific off the northeast coast of Australia, and classified as an Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia, interim Australian bioregion. The Coral Sea extends down t ...

surveys at Southern Small Detached Reef,

. To date, very little is known about the

ecology Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their Natural environment, environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community (ecology), community, ecosystem, and biosphere lev ...

of this species. Scientists are currently studying the

sensory system The sensory nervous system is a part of the nervous system responsible for processing sensory information. A sensory system consists of sensory neurons (including the sensory receptor cells), neural pathways, and parts of the brain involved ...

s of this catshark in order to reveal information about its ecology and ultimately behaviour. The reproduction of the beige catshark is

oviparous Oviparous animals are animals that reproduce by depositing fertilized zygotes outside the body (i.e., by laying or spawning) in metabolically independent incubation organs known as eggs, which nurture the embryo into moving offsprings kno ...

References

* Compagno, Dando, & Fowler, ''Sharks'', Collins Gem, HarperCollins, London 2006 beige catshark Marine fish of Eastern Australia beige catshark {{shark-stub